VIM Cheatsheet

Vim is a modal editor: keys mean different things depending on the mode you are in. Most commands compose as count + operator + motion — 3dw deletes three words, d$ deletes to the end of the line — so learning a new motion instantly upgrades every operator you already know.

💡 New to Vim? Run vimtutor in a terminal — 30 minutes, and the rest of this sheet starts making sense.

🚦 Modes

🧭 Cursor Movement

✏️ Entering Insert Mode

🔧 Operators & Text Objects

An operator waits for a motion or a text object. Doubling the operator (dd, yy, >>) applies it to the whole line.

ciw     change the word under the cursor
ci"     change everything inside the quotes
da(     delete the parentheses and their contents
yi{     yank the body of a block
2dd     delete two lines
d3w     delete three words
>ap     indent the whole paragraph

✂️ Editing

📋 Copy, Paste & Registers

⚠️ In Vim, deleting also yanks — dd overwrites the unnamed register. Use "0p to paste what you last copied, or yank into a named register first.

🔍 Search & Replace

The global command

:g runs an Ex command on every line matching a pattern — the power tool of Vim.

:g/TODO/d           delete every line containing TODO
:v/keep/d           delete every line NOT containing 'keep' (:v is :g!)
:g/^$/d             delete all blank lines
:g/error/normal A;  append a semicolon to every matching line
:g/pattern/t$       copy matching lines to the end of the file
:g/pattern/m0       move matching lines to the top (reverses their order)

🎨 Visual Mode

Ctrl-v, select lines, I, type, Esc     insert the same text on every line
Ctrl-v, select lines, $, A, type, Esc  append at the end of every line
Ctrl-v, select, d                      delete a rectangular block

🔖 Marks & Jumps

🎬 Macros

📂 Files, Buffers, Windows & Tabs

📑 Folding

🧩 Completion & Spelling

🧵 Quickfix & Diff

⚙️ Handy :set Options

📄 A Starting ~/.vimrc

set nocompatible
syntax on
filetype plugin indent on

set number relativenumber
set incsearch hlsearch ignorecase smartcase
set expandtab shiftwidth=2 tabstop=2
set scrolloff=5
set hidden
set undofile
set clipboard=unnamedplus

" a leader key, and a few mappings that pay for themselves
let mapleader = " "
nnoremap <leader>w :w<CR>
nnoremap <leader>/ :nohlsearch<CR>
nnoremap <C-h> <C-w>h
nnoremap <C-j> <C-w>j
nnoremap <C-k> <C-w>k
nnoremap <C-l> <C-w>l

ℹ️ Mappings that start with <leader> are your configuration, not built-in Vim. If a leader shortcut on someone else’s cheat sheet does nothing, that is why.

📚 Resources

• vimtutor — the built-in 30-minute tutorial
• :help <topic> — Vim’s own documentation, and it is excellent
• Vim documentation
• Vim Adventures — learn by playing
• Practical Vim (book)